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Approaching God and Becoming a Source of Hope

Choosing to Lift Others Up: MY REACTION TO “TRUMP’S COMMENTS”

President Trump is yet again at the center of another storm. Although I want to believe that the sort of thinking and language Trump was accused of using – when speaking about countries in Africa, as well as Haiti and Ecuador – does not exist in the world today, that would be extremely naïve. The truth is it does! It is literally all around us. Even if Trump is vindicated, and he did not say the things he was accused of saying, there are sadly a significant number of people on social media that have doubled down and echoed the same sentiments that were in the initial report. To suggest that there are certain countries that are filthy orifices, which means by extension that the people who come from those places must all be filthy, is repugnant. God has graced me to become close friends with peoples from each of the regions and countries mentioned in the report, and for that I thank God. My life is forever changed by your distinct and unique witness of Christ’s love, God’s creativity, and the expression of the Divine Image in your life lived out.

If Trump did not say any of what he was accused of saying, I pray he will be vindicated. I am not interested in being a partisan hack that is simply interested in tearing others down so that my political party (a.ka. gang family) can be elevated. I have friends in elected office, the private sector, academia, and technical trades who are both democrats and republicans. The vast majority of them have sought to use their offices to help others and have done so with a great awareness of the weight of the position they hold. However, there are those in politics, those on social media (those in politics on social media), and those in every profession, who lack any awareness of the other.

However, if you (President Trump) did say the things you are accused of saying, and for those of you who have echoed the sentiments, in the reports:

Shame on you! You possess the great opportunity to lift up more people than you could ever imagine. Perhaps you have unashamedly projected yourself as a person that seeks to put others first, but doing so does not require that you seek to hurt others along the way. There are those who seek to get ahead by tearing others down, and there are those who continue to lift others up, as they themselves ascend to greater heights. Two lessons I learned when I was in Kindergarten that are always worth remembering. First, there are no inherently filthy, as “the earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.” There is beauty in every corner of ever country of the world. Second, there are no inherently filthy people, as every human is created in the image of God. Much of what you perceive to be filth may simply be the result of years of being torn down by those who then call those people (and places) filthy. I am grateful to have pledged my eternal, unrelenting allegiance to the One who has lifted me up by sacrificing Himself in His ascent to the cross. It is for that reason I aim to live my life in a similar manner. My prayer for you is that you will come to realize the vast power you possess when you choose to follow that same model of the Christ.